The St. John’s softball team sits at 25-25 on their season following an 8-3 loss against Seton Hall (24-19) on April 27 at Red Storm Field. The Pirates were able to take game two of the weekend series despite having only three hits through the first five innings. 

Sophomore pitcher Loreley Francia started on the mound for St. John’s with a quick three-up three-down inning. The Spring, Texas native has a 2.95 ERA with 11 wins in the 2024 season. 

At the plate, St. John’s fared well for the first five innings. Their offense was initiated by junior infielder London Jarrard when she put the Red Storm up first with a deep solo homerun to right-center field off of the first pitch thrown. With the hit she tied Erin Burner’s single season RBI record with 49, marking her tenth home run of the season. 

The first five innings of the game were slow offensively. Continuing her consistent sophomore campaign, Francia was able to slow down the Pirates at the plate and allowed only three hits in the first five innings. Of those three hits was a deep two RBI homerun over the left field fence from Seton Hall’s Kelsey Carr. 

Graduate infielder Amy Mallah backed up the Red Storm in the bottom of the third inning with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. In her final season with St. John’s, she is hitting .214 with nine RBI’s. 

St. John’s found a lead again in the bottom of the fourth inning when a passed ball behind the plate got a run scored in. Although they took the lead from Seton Hall, momentum was slowly shifting as two runners were left on base to close out the inning. 

The Seton Hall bats fired up in the top of the sixth inning when an RBI single for senior infielder Lela Allen brought the score to 3-3. With a sacrifice fly ball to left field bringing in the go-ahead from third base, St. John’s found themselves in their first deficit of the game. 

The Red Storm fell short with an opportunity to retake the lead in the bottom of the sixth inning. A passed ball from Seton Hall pitcher Kyra Kreuscher put pinch-runner Paige Sterling in scoring position as Jarrard got to the plate. Hopes ran dry when Jarrard and sophomore pitcher Ana Serafinko ended the inning with a fly-out to left field and pop-out to third. 

With a one-run lead, Seton Hall came into the top of the seventh inning with heat off of their bats. Senior pitcher Hannah Mearns took over for Francia on the mound, allowing four more runs for the Pirates and bringing the score to 8-3. The contest ended with six runs scored for the Pirates and none for the Red Storm in the last two innings. 

Following the game the team honored three of their seniors  — Mallah, Mearns and infielder Madison Wallace for a senior day recognition ceremony. 

St. John’s will close out the weekend series against Seton Hall on April 28 at 12 p.m..